In accordance with increased interest in alternative energy and clean energy, demand for photovoltaic power generation to generate electric power by utilizing sunlight as a renewable energy source is greatly increasing.
In general, a photovoltaic power generation apparatus directly converts sunlight into electric energy to be used in the form of electric power by including a solar panel integrated with a plurality of solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity, a battery to accumulate the generated electricity, and a power transformer to transform current/voltage of the accumulated power.
In such a photovoltaic power generation apparatus, the power generation efficiency of the solar panel is most important factor. The power generation efficiency of the solar panel is proportional to the amount of sunlight incident upon the solar panel. That is, efficient power generation may be achieved during long, sunny days, and the solar panel is perpendicular to the incidence direction of sunlight. Another important factor having great influence on the power generation efficiency of the solar panel is temperature. As ambient temperature increases, the power generation efficiency of the solar panel is greatly decreased.
For this reason, in the summer season exhibiting superior conditions in terms of sunshine amount and incidence angle of sunlight, degradation in power generation efficiency occurs and, as such, it may be difficult to achieve sufficient power generation. This also hinders effective utilization of photovoltaic power generation in areas superior in terms of other conditions, such as equatorial areas and desert areas.
In order to avoid degradation in power generation efficiency under the above-mentioned high-temperature conditions, it is necessary to cool the solar panel. However, conventional cooling devices consume energy in order to perform driving for cooling and, as such, there is a problem in that increase in power generation efficiency is hindered.